New Zealand: Skippers Canyon and Wine Tasting

Last week Derek and I got took advantage of living only eleven hours from New Zealand and made the trip down there.  It has always been a place on our bucket list of trips and it certainly did not disappoint!  We were only there for seven full days so we really packed in the activities to enjoy as much of the south island as we could.

Our trip started in Queenstown where we stayed right on Lake Wakatipu.  Our first morning we met with Adin to go on a 4x4 tour of Skippers Canyon.  The canyon is a gorge through which the Shotover River runs and has some breathtaking views.

Beautiful Queenstown

Entrance to Skippers Canyon 

Rocky peaks and the Land Rover we were in 

We are just a tiny speck compared to the size of these mountains 

"Hey over there!"

Our first glimpse of the Shotover River

I loved how turquoise the river was.  It comes from the glaciers so it is cold too!

The rocky cliff we drove the canyon on.  I can't imagine the difficulty in building the road. 

One thing you might notice in the pictures is that there are some dead pine trees.  They are purposely killing off the trees because they are not indigenous to the island.  It is said that the forest in the picture below was started with just four pine trees planted by family living at the homestead next to the school. The pine trees are taking over and killing the local vegetation so they are trying to return everything to its original state.

We would soon drive over the bridge in the picture to go to the red roofed school house in the forest.

Single lane bridge crossing over the canyon

Bridge, waterfall, river, AMAZING

For the LOTR fans, the Ford of Bruinen scene was filmed here

Skippers school where we stopped for tea and pikelets (pancakes)

The Skippers Canyon graveyard

The plaques gave details of the tombstones.  My favorite is John Tripp who was "killed with Cornelius Nolan while thawing dynamite on a shovel".

About to skip a couple rocks on the Shotover River

Castle Rock and the winding road we road  along the canyon

Rocky alpine

Sad to leave the Canyon but ready to go wine tasting

After the Skippers Canyon we headed out to a few wineries for lunch and some wine tasting.

We were told about a winery that smoked meat in old wine barrels so we had to try.  It was right on the edge of
this river. 

We ate lunch at this table overlooking the river and enjoyed a delicious lunch and wine.

A little further down the river. More dead pine trees that they are trying to get rid of.

To the left is another vineyard on the river that we visited

Across the road was a pedestrian bridge mainly used for bungee jumping.

After four wineries and watching a few bungee jumpers we called it quits for the day and headed back to Queenstown.  We kept our mexican eating streak alive and had our least appetizing mexican meal yet.  We had to make sure we got a good nights sleep so we could be ready for another exciting day.  New Zealand trip was off to a great start!